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Culinary Adventures in a College Kitchen

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Quinoa with Eggplant and Peppers

Hello lovelies. I have a little story for you all this Thursday morning. And if you absolutely cannot stand to hear me ramble for a paragraph or two, you can jump down to the recipe at the end. I won't judge. Too much. Anyway, story time! I currently intern at the public relations agency that represents all of the Broadway In Chicago shows in the city. The work is mainly compiling media coverage and sending it off to the client. However, I also get to attend press night for all of the shows.

Let's have a moment of silence for how awesome that is.

--silence--

Okay, back on track. Tuesday night I went to the Mamma Mia! press night. Interns are used as fillers for empty seats in the theater and we are usually given our tickets about two or three minutes before the show starts. This is always anxiety provoking for me (I hate rushing) but usually I handle it well. I was all business Tuesday night until the ushers sent me to the wrong aisle and I sort of went into a blind panic, not paying much attention to my surroundings as I whipped around to run to the next aisle. When I made that hello-whiplash-turn I collided with none other than Chicago's biggest theater critic.

Sputtered apologies and flushed cheeks followed.

I was mortified and still sort of am. Although, I do have to admit that it makes a pretty good story. And as an awkward magnet, that is something you really have to hold on to.

On a somewhat unrelated note, I have some food that I want to show you all. This is a food blog at the end of the day, after all. Like most recipes, this came from an oh s*** moment at the rapidly deteriorating produce in my refrigerator. Nothing like four dollar peppers bruising to get your chef cap on! I used quinoa as the base because no grain is a better canvas for rapidly-deteriorating-produce. This would be great with just about any roasted vegetable. Also, don't be afraid to add sauces. I used some tomato sauce on the leftovers and it was delicious.

Quinoa with Roasted Eggplant and Peppers

Ingredients:

1 eggplant, cubed

2 peppers, chopped roughly

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp dried basil

1 tsp dried parsley

salt/pepper

1 cup quinoa

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spread the eggplant and pepper on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Add the herbs and then mix with your hands to coat the vegetables with oil and herbs. Bake for 10 minutes. Flip over the vegetables, bake for another 5-10 minutes until the eggplant is easily pierced with a knife.

Meanwhile, bring the quinoa and 2 cups of water to a boil. Reduce the heat and let the quinoa simmer covered for 15 minutes. Remove cover and fluff with a fork.